Should I writ Kanjis and Kana with a pen or pencil ? I feel like those 2 make for very thin line, unlike what I usually see in my kanji books where paintbrush seem to have been used. What do students in Japan use, other than for calligraphy; for regular writing?

line thickness isnt important you know. i'd suggest sticking with a pencil or a pen till you get a good grasp of kanji and, after that, doing paintbrush stuff for fun (unless you really like it or are taking calligraphy classes ). judging from how many times i write a kanji to get it to look readable, i'd guess my room would be black from the ink if i tried that with a brush not to mention it would be very expensive and slow

Last edited by Budomaru on Tue 08.01.2006 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You know you've been hanging around a forum too long when people start quoting you and agreeing

I use pencils. But i get irritated when it isn't sharp. If i could keep up with my fountain pens, i would use those. I suggest foutain pens, but it really doesn't matter. =o i haven't used a brush since i was young.>_<

I don't know how general this is, but my sons were not allowed to use mechanical pencils (シャーペン) in grade school, so they used regular pencils in their kanji studies. In junior high and high school mechanical pencils are allowed.

A couple of times a year they dust off the calligraphy sets to practice writing with a brush. They come home covered in black ink.

I use Sakura Micron brush pens. They're intended for comic use, but they're also great for kanji writing practice. The flexible tips are also a plus. The even come in different sizes. My favorite size is 05 Their Site

"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily."

i use plain pencil, or mechanical mostly... but i have a few fude pens that i break out occasionally, and a .2 mm Micron felt-tip that i use to make corrections in books because it lets you write really really tiny to fit those many stroke kanji in a small space.

i'm also particularly fond of the old school Flair Felt Tip pen. the tip is just big enough and small enough, and just soft enough and just pointed enough to get a decent approximation of a brush.